Patient Story 25 May 2018
Guadalupe Frias: Lifetime Runner
Guadalupe Frias moved to Laramie in 1999. She is the mother to five children and grandmother to 12 grandchildren. She is also is an avid runner.
Guadalupe began running in 1981 and in the last 35+ years, has run countless 10K and 5K races. After recently suffering from sudden deafness in her right ear, Guadalupe visited Dr. Paul Johnson, ENT, and Amy Weaver, Audiologist, at Ivinson Memorial Hospital to discuss her options. She chose to undergo an osteointegrated temporal bone implant procedure. During the procedure, Dr. Johnson placed a titanium implant that sits in the bone behind the ear.
Several weeks after the procedure, Amy Weaver, along with Shana Weinreich Martinez of Oticon Medical, performed a fitting of the bone-anchored hearing system (BAHS) sound processor.
The BAHS is designed to use Guadalupe’s natural ability to transfer sound through bone conduction. The sound processor converts sounds into vibrations which are then sent through her skull bone, directly to her inner ear. The sound processor picks up waves similarly to conventional hearing aids but rather than sending these sound waves through the ear canal, it transforms them into sound vibrations, allowing Guadalupe to hear sound from her impaired side.
With two of her children by her side, Guadalupe expressed her excitement with the results. “It’s amazing!” she said. Although a bit skeptical at first, she conveyed just how happy she was with her experience. After her initial hearing loss, her balance suffered. When asked what she was most excited for in regaining her hearing, Guadalupe didn’t hesitate, “Getting back to running three miles.”
Guadalupe is the first patient at Ivinson to have a bone anchored hearing system placed and fitted thanks to a phenomenal team of physicians, audiologists, and nurses